El Jadida, La Cité Portugaise

The subterranean cistern at El Jadida on Morocco's Atlantic Coast was used by Orson Welles in his 1952 film version of "Othello". I must admit to only chasing up the scene on YouTube after having visited the site on this, our first day in the country. The vault mirrors the roof and pillars in the shallow water covering the floor and you can see how Welles used it to such dramatic effect in his film.

We walked the ramparts of the fortified port known as the Cité Portugaise stopping to view egrets nesting in fishing boats from one of the four bastions that enclose the precinct between sandy coloured, stone walls.

 

Boats are dry docked in the adjacent harbour for repair while others ply the waters for sardine, calamar and other fruits de mer which you eat very cheaply along the town's corniche.

 

The minaret of the Grand Mosque looms over the old town and was once a hexagonal lighthouse during the Portuguese occupation. At one of the four bastions remaining, you come across the former synagogue with an Islamic crescent hovering over its Star of David. I read the synagogue until recently housed cement mixing supplies and on asking how or if one can visit I was told finding the guardian would take a major effort.

This led us to ponder whether the crescent and star signified past communal coexistence or the gradual domination of one community over another?

It was hard to believe it was Winter. I had anticipated the weather to be more or less cool and not unlike that of Melbourne's which is unpredictable most of the time. The sun blazed for most of the day over El Jadida and I'd say it had to be at least 23 or 24 degrees Celsius.

It was a beautiful first day in Morocco.

 

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